Women Aren't The Only Victims Of The Fair Skin Trap, Men Also Can't Wait To Turn A Shade Lighter

Majority of Indians residing within the geographic coordinates that map out the boundary of the subcontinent, fall under the category of medium to dark wheatish or “olive” skin tone. By most “English” or Western standards, we are the perfect specimen of “brown people”.

While such demographic segregation and racism prevalent in the West aren't new to Indians, there is a painful truth to be experienced in the kind of off-handed racism that is practised within India, by Indians and for Indians.

The Indian subcontinent's collective blind love for the “fairer ones” is something all of us are aware of. For ages now, Indians have drooled over and craved for the lighter shades of skin tone one might find on those shade scales they proudly show off in TV commercials.

However, while Indian women have had to suffer from and live under the constant scrutiny of old hags nagging them and lamenting over their “dark skin” colour for ages, they found solace in their grandmother's home remedies, that promised to lighten their skin and make them “look more desirable” as per the requirements of the Indian marriage market.

Enter commercialisation, and the home remedies were quickly replaced by magical tubes of modernised (albeit chemically formulated) “ubtan” recipes that had made their way to fancy fairness creams and lotions that thrived on women's insecurities and constant pressure to match up to the (unrealistic and cruel) social standards of beauty.

The “fairness” furthering business opened a gold mine of money making opportunity that these fairness cream companies exploited for years. But things took a new turn when they made a discovery that would forever change how we saw the fairness cream industry.

Until the mid-2000s shaving creams and deodorants were the primary grooming products that were sold to men through commercial ads. However, the market study showed there was a solid opportunity of expanding men's grooming range, and soon, fairness products for men were launched.

This led to a boom in the men's skin-care industry and as of 2017 the market grew by 40% and the industry was said to be worth around rupees 5,000 crores. That's not all, a 2015 research study by Nielsen showed that men got into the bandwagon because they believed that a fair complexion could improve their professional prospects.

This only confirms that the “idea” of fair as handsome is both personal and is slowly making its way into people's reflection of themselves professionally.

Yet, there also exist a lot of aware men who realise that companies are feeding on people's insecurities to cash in on more money and jump the success ladder. Bollywood actors such as Nandita Das, Kangana Ranaut and more recently Abhay Deol, have joined in to call out such companies and their products, and even fellow actors who endorse such brands and their skin whitening products.

However, since awareness is growing by the day, and more men (and women) continue to realise that they are being fooled by these companies and their products, brands are coming up with more cunning ways of selling their products to consumers. According to Sinha, “My sense is that brands will wake up to the new reality, and you will see propositions reworked around clearer skin (and) glow, rather than pure fairness,” and honestly we have already seen that happening lately.

It's disheartening to see how society's idea of “normal” and “beautiful” can disrupt people's perception of themselves, wherein they come to think of themselves as inferior to someone, merely because their skin is a shade or two darker than that of others around them.

We often hear women say “love and accept yourself for who and how you are” and we hope men also follow this thumb rule and come to take pride in what has been given to them at birth. Trust us, women love that in a man, the ability to be comfortable and confident in their own skin.